


i am desperate (if nothing else)

by poweradequeen



Category: The Kane Chronicles - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Anti-Hero, F/M, Fluff, I feel bad for them, Zarter - Freeform, as a treat, carter and zia fall in love and its cute, hero - Freeform, its good if you ignore the horrible writing, poor walt and sadie tbh, pray for them, they have to hear carter and zia rant about each other so much, you can have some zarter content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24690058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poweradequeen/pseuds/poweradequeen
Summary: carter is a hero, zia is more of an anti-hero. they hate eachother but they have to team up. i think you can guess what happens.title from mercury by sleeping at last
Relationships: Carter Kane/Zia Rashid, Sadie Kane/Walt Stone
Comments: 9
Kudos: 19





	1. i.

**Author's Note:**

> have?? i guess?? its not that good but there needs to be more zarter content so im lending my services even though i have so many wips its not even funny,, but i mean it’s whatever

“Any criminals that need to be stopped?” Carter asked as he walked up to Sadie. She spun around in her chair, a glass of Ribena in her hand. Carter would never understand British people and their weird drinks. 

“Well, yes, but Zia is already taking care of it,” Sadie said, turning back to her computer screen.

“Why didn't you tell me sooner? For all my luck Zia has already killed them,” Carter said, a sour tone in his voice. “Where are they?” 

“Why do you give Zia such a bad rep? She does what she does very well. Just because she doesn’t share your exact ethical and moral beliefs, doesn't mean you can just assume she's already killed someone.” Sadie typed away, triangulating the criminal’s location. 

“She works outside of the law. I’ve seen her do a lot of questionable things as Ra.” Carter peered over Sadie’s shoulder trying to see if Sadie had tracked their location yet. “There’s no telling what she would be willing to do in the future. I can’t exactly trust her knowing that she wouldn’t have qualms about taking somebody's life.” 

“I think she probably does have qualms with taking somebody's life, she is just willing to work outside the law to make the world a safer place. The guy robbed the Capital One Bank on the corner of 13th street and 5th avenue. They’re still there.”

“Alright, I’ll see you later.” Carter walked out to their patio and flew to the criminal’s location. Carter had the remarkable power of super strength and flight. He named his hero alter ego after Horus, the Egyptian god of fighting and war. Horus could assume the form of a falcon and fly, not too much unlike Carter himself. 

“Oh wow, look who finally decided to show up, _Horus_ ,” Zia said. The criminal in front of Carter had already been put into handcuffs. 

“Well, I'm surprised you refrained from giving him brain damage, _Ra_.” Carter sneered. “That would have seemed more your style than just apprehending him.”

“Just because I don't follow the law to the letter doesn't mean I don't have a moral compass. I feel like I have more of one since I decided for it myself instead of blindly following someone else's,” Zia remarked. A sly smirk on her face. 

“The law is designed to keep people safe. Why go against it?” Carter argued.

“Well since you just love the law so much, you can handle the police when they get here,” Zia smiled and in a flash of fire, she was gone. 

“Alright, what's your name and why did you rob the bank?” Carter asked the criminal. 

“I’m not saying anything without my lawyer.” The criminal spat at Carter’s feet. He was too far away to actually get spit on Carter’s feet, but still, the action hurt Carter’s feelings. 

“That _is_ your right, but come on man. Can you not spit on me?” Carter said as the police arrived. He turned towards the officers. “He won’t say anything without his lawyer present. I can’t take the credit for his arrest. It was Ra.”

“If she ever stays long enough to talk with the police, I’ll give her my thanks.” The detective motioned for some other police officers to take the criminal to a police car. “You're free to go then, if you want.”

“Okay then, bye!” Carter gave the detective a wave before leaving. 

“Hullo, Sadie here, robbers are having a field day today! Another one, but this time they are robbing the Brooklyn Museum! How confident! You know where that is right? I mean you were gushing about that new exhibit this morning,” Sadie said over the coms. 

“I was _not_ gushing!” Carter defended himself. “I may have been _eager_ , but I wasn't _gushing_.” 

“I wasn’t gushing,” Sadie mocked. “Just get to the museum. Don't want to get shown up by Zia again, do you?”

“I’m almost there.” Carter dropped down to the floor of the museum. “I’m going to have to ask you to stop. Stealing is in fact illegal, and I don’t condone it.”

“You may be able to stop me, but you’ll never stop him. He’ll rip you and everything you love to shreds! It will be chaos and it will be glorious!” The woman in front of Carter yelled. She lunged at him, but it wasn’t really a fight with Carter’s super strength. In a matter of minutes, Carter had her pinned down.

“You need some handcuffs, Horus?” Zia dangled then in front of his face. Carter grabbed them from her with a scowl. 

“Thanks,” Carter said, locking the handcuffs in place. 

“You’ll never beat him. He’s too powerful!” The woman yelled again.

“Do you have any idea what she’s talking about?” Zia questioned.

“Nope, probably crazy talk. I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” Carter replied. In the distance, Carter could hear police sirens. “You might want to leave now though, the cops are almost here.”

“Thanks for the tip! Bye crazy lady.” She walked away, not bothering with the theatrical fire this time around.

Carter handing her to the police. She occasionally yelled threats of a powerful villain that would wreak havoc against Brooklyn, then the rest of the world.

Carter eventually made it back home to Sadie’s and his headquarters. “Zia is just so infuriating. I swear she does it on purpose!”

“Does what on purpose?” Sadie asked. She spun in her chair as if she were seven instead of twenty. 

“Everything! Everything she does is just so annoying and frustrating and,” Carter let out a scream before continuing. “She always has this smirk and she’s always trying to get under my skin!”

“Wow, that must suck.” Sadie’s reply was completely monotonous. 

“You could at least have a shred of empathy.” Carter rolled his eyes at his sister. 

“If you recall, I did, for the first three months you ranted about her, but I mean, its been two years. It’s gotten a bit boring.” 

“Well, I’m sorry that I’m not interesting anymore.” Carter made an annoyed face and Sadie smiled.

“Apology accepted. So glad we could come to that conclusion.” Sadie flipped her newly blue streaked hair over shoulder. “But seriously, you talk about Zia so much, you’d think you have a thing for her.”

“Yeah, right. Good one. I would never in a million years, nor in a parallel universe, ever ‘have a thing’ for Zia Rashid.” Carter sat down in a nearby chair. He completely missed Sadie’s whisper about how he definitely had a thing for her. 

Sadie focused back on her computer screen, checking for nearby disturbances or crimes. She was about to refill her cup of Ribena when a little heart icon appeared at the top corner of her screen.

It was a message from her boyfriend, Walt. She of course couldn’t tell her brother about Walt, since he worked with Zia. It was easy enough to hide from Carter though, considering he usually was talking about a new history exhibit or how ‘annoyingly frustrating’ Zia was. 

The message was a video with the subject set as “IMPORTANT! TELL CARTER!”. The body of the email was Walt saying that the person wasn’t kidding around with their encryption. It was some of the best work he had ever seen. 

“Carter?” Sadie called out, Carter hummed in response, urging her to continue. “I think you should come watch this. I think it’s important.” 

Carter walked pulled up a chair next to Sadie as she pressed play on a video. The person’s face was obscured, and the sound was obviously altered.

“Order has corrupted Brooklyn, as it has the rest of the world. After I purge Brooklyn of its blemishes, I will cleanse the rest of the planet as well.” Sadie and Carter sat speechless as the video played. “It has come to my attention that people will want to stop me. I have a few words of wisdom for those who will try: I am unstoppable, a force of pure chaos. I am Apophis. Horus and Ra, you cannot defeat me, but I would love to see you destroy yourselves attempting such a feat.”

“The woman at the museum said something very similar to that, do you think they were connected?” Carter asked after a few seconds. His arms still littered with goosebumps from the video.

“I can look into it, but Carter?” Sadie asked her voice small. “I don’t think this is a joke. The encryption is very advanced.” She shook her head looking back at the video. “And if the woman at the museum is connected, that means this person has reach, they have followers.”

“So Brooklyn is actually in danger, and even if _Apophis_ destroys it, he won’t stop there. Great,” Carter sighed.

“He also singled you and Zia out. He’s challenging you, and he might win if you and her can’t sort out your differences and fight him together.”

“So what are you suggesting we do?”

“We should meet up, discuss battle strategies. Find out a way to beat Apophis.”

“Alright,” Carter said with resignation. “But she is coming here.”

“I’ll see if I can arrange that.” Sadie and Carter sat in silence for a few seconds.

“This is probably going to be the worst thing we’ve ever faced, isn’t it?” Carter asked.

“Probably.”


	2. ii.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> even against a common enemy carter and zia don’t really like each other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy, i am high key going through a kane chronicles phase so this second chapter came out really quick

“I’m not going there,” Zia huffed angrily. She crossed her arms over her chest. 

“Zia, he invited you,” Walt tried to reason with her. “Would you rather him come here?”

Zia thought about it for a few seconds. “You know what? I would, because then we would be on _my_ terms.”

“Zia,” he said, almost as a warning. “Please be reasonable here.”

“Oh, _I’m_ the one being unreasonable?” Zia asked incredulously. “Because last time I checked, Carter was the one that just assumed I killed people because I go against the law a little bit.”

“At least Carter has agreed to have this meeting,” Walt sighed. “He has already offered up his headquarters to be the base of operations for this. It would be nice if you accepted his hospitality.”

“Why should I? So he can argue with me because we don’t share a moral compass?”

“Zia,” Walt pleaded. “Apophis is a real threat. He singled you and Carter out. He means business, which means we have to mean business too. Just an hour of civil conversation. Me and Sadie will probably be talking for the most part anyway.”

“Fine,” her tone was annoyed, and Walt was tired of her and Carter’s banter towards each other. “But I’m not going to be happy about it.”

“Thank you, Zia.” Walt put his head in his hands as Zia left the room. He shot off a quick message to Sadie, informing her that Zia had finally agreed to meet up with them.

  
  


“Zia agreed,” Sadie called out to Carter from across the room. 

“Oh, shame.” Carter flipped the history textbook he was reading _for fun,_ Sadie would never understand why he’d put himself through that. “I was hoping she would decline.”

“She almost did,” Sadie informed, “well she did decline, but Walt convinced her to accept.”

“Why would Walt do that to me?” Carter whined, taking a sip of his ginger ale.

“Maybe because this is an important issue that requires both you and Zia?” Carter rolled his eyes at his sister. 

“When is she going to be here?” Carter asked. He stood up from his chair and walked over to Sadie. He put his hands on the back of her chair looking at her screen, it was full of code that he would probably never understand. 

“Why do you ask? Are you excited?” Sadie teased, turning her head up to see the look on Carter’s face.

“Excited for this to be over and hopefully never see her again? Absolutely.” 

“Should’ve expected that one,” Sadie muttered to herself. “She’ll be here soon, and please be at least civil. If that’s even possible with you two.”

“I will _try_ to be civil. No promises though.” He said, and after you a few minutes he heard the hum of the elevator.

Sadie stood up out of her chair. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and straightened out her jacket. “Zia, Walt. Welcome!”

“Sadie, it’s always a pleasure,” Zia said warmly. She turned to Carter, “Carter.”

“Zia,” Carter replied curtly. He walked over to Walt and shook his hand. “Walt, it’s nice to see you.”

“Carter, Sadie, thank you for inviting us. We appreciate it, don’t we Zia?” Walt looked at Zia expectantly, waiting for an answer.

“Yes, we appreciate very much,” Zia said it through gritted teeth. Carter took a breath in, preparing himself for the meeting to come. 

“Well, if you’ll follow me, we can start our meeting.” Sadie guided them all to the board room.

The boardroom had a flatscreen TV mounted on the wall and a table with twelve chairs. Zia had to admit it was impressive, no doubt the work of Sadie. Carter and Zia sat at opposite ends of the table. Walt and Sadie stood at the front of the table. 

“Sadie and I looked into the woman that broke into the museum,” Walt started. “Her name is Sarah Jacobi and we have reason to believe she is working for Apophis.”

“We also looked into the Capitol One Bank robbery on 13th and 5th. The man, Kwai, has also been linked to Apophis.” Sadie clicked through showing each person's mugshot, name and past offences. 

“This led us to the theory that Apophis was using them as a distraction to obtain something else,” Walt said.

“What do you think he’s after?” Carter asked.

“We don’t know yet. We don’t know anything about him, least of all how to track him,” Sadie sighed. “This guy is good, me and Walt—.”

“Walt and I,” Walt interrupted her with the correction. 

“What?” Sadie turned to him in confusion.

“It’s ‘Walt and I’ not ‘me and Walt’. Simple grammatical error.” Walt shrugged.

‘Okay, anyway, _Walt and I_ weren’t able to get through _any_ of the encryption on the video he sent,” Sadie explained.

“If he’s such a big threat, I’m surprised he would single _you_ out,” Zia tried to mutter under breath, but it was loud enough for everybody to hear. Sadie and Walt let out a heavy sigh. They couldn’t through ten minutes without an argument. 

“Oh? I could say the same thing to you!” Carter seethed. 

“You could, could you? Oh please, do tell!” Zia yelled. 

“I wonder,” Sadie whispered, “if I started doing the Macarena, how long would it take them to notice?”

“British people know the Macarena?” Walt asked.

“Yes, why wouldn’t we?” Sadie asked dumbfounded. “But, I’ve been in America for eight years. So even if we didn’t, I think I would’ve picked it up by now.” 

“Okay, I guess that makes sense. I think it would take them like six or seven minutes,” Walt whispered back

“You think that it would only take them seven minutes?” Sadie started a stopwatch on her phone and started doing the Macarena.

“I have faith in them, Sadie.” 

“You really shouldn’t,” Sadie had already tuned the fighting happening in the room. She’d had years of training living with Carter.

“I know, but I can hope, at least,” Walt said as he observed the fight between Zia and Carter. 

“You’re just angry because I get more recognition with the citizens,” Carter yelled.

“I’m not that bigheaded that I need constant glorifications for my actions! You, however, _that’s_ a different story” Zia yelled back.

“Ay, Macarena!” Sadie hummed absentmindedly apparently not paying the fight any attention. “We’re at two minutes.”

“They haven’t even looked our way,” Walt commented. “I’m a bit impressed, I have to say.”

“I once walked away. Like out of the room, and Carter proceeded to talk for thirteen more minutes. It’s a skill at this point.” Sadie was still doing the Macarena as she talked. Walt turned back to Zia and Carter and just watched the scene unfold. They really weren’t pulling their punches either.

“The number of times you’ve taken credit for the work _I’ve_ done—.”

“I have never taken responsibility for anything you’ve done, Zia! I am a man of merit,” Carter’s sentence drifted off as he saw his sister dancing. “Sadie, how long have you been doing the Macarena?”

“Let me just check here.” Sadie picked up her phone. “Walt! You were right! Six minutes and thirty-seven seconds!” 

“What’s going on?” Zia questioned. 

“You and Carter started fighting so Sadie and I wanted to see how long it would take for you to notice that Sadie was doing the Macarena,” Walt explained, he clasped his hands in front of his chest. “Took you a little while.”

“Anyway, now that you aren’t fighting, we can actually get to work.” Sadie picked up her tablet. Zia and Carter looked away in embarrassment. Sadie continued explaining what they knew which sparked another argument.

“We can’t go in there without a plan!” Carter argued.

“I swear, I am this close to just walking out of here,” Sadie showed her near touching fingers to Walt who let out a soft laugh

“I am right there with you,” Walt agreed.

“I’m just saying we need the element of surprise otherwise we won’t win!” Zia yelled back.

“And we can only do that if we know a lot about Apophis and his plan!” 

“Guys!” Walt yelled over both of them. “Can we please focus? I know neither of you want to be doing this right now, but this meeting needs to happen. Be civil? For just five more minutes? Please?” Zia rolled her eyed in Carter’s direction but didn’t retaliate any further. “Thank you.”

Sadie started going through where she thought Apophis would strike. Places like museums, and landmarks. “Apophis says he wants destruction and chaos, so I think, and maybe it's Carter's influence on me, but I think he's going for pieces of history.”

“I agree,” Walt said. “If Sarah Jacobi was in fact working for Apophis and she targeted a museum we can infer that Apophis wants to destroy historic monuments.”

“So, we should be on more of a lookout with things deeply rooted in history?” Zia interjected with a question.

“Yes, however, Apophis may also have another motive,” Sadie said. “If Kwai was also working for Apophis and he robbed a bank, the grand plan might be split between two sides.”

“That would be easier if it were. Zia takes one side, I take the other, we never have to see each other again,” Carter said.

“Don’t tempt with such fantasy,” Zia replied, shifting in her seat.

“These two sides would be split between modern and historic. Apophis, if this is his plan, is attacking both sides at the same time,” Walt explained. He turned to Sadie and whispered to her. “I feel like it would be a good idea for Zia and I look into one lead, and you Carter look into the other.”

“Ok, we’ll do this separately to spare me and Walt the headaches. Walt and Zia, you can take the modern side. Carter and I.” Sadie looked back at Walt, “look, I followed grammar rules. Carter and I will take the historic side.”

“Okay, that seems like a good plan.” Zia nodded her head. 

“Alright then, meeting adjourned,” Sadie sighed. “Finally.”

“Sorry for all the trouble, Sadie. I apologize. As you can see, I am purposefully keeping _someone_ out of this apology,” Zia told Sadie. 

Sadie let out a laugh. She and Zia left the boardroom, followed by Walt and Carter. “I don’t blame you. Growing up with Carter, I know firsthand how troublesome he can be.”

As they were close to the elevator, Sadie let out a chuckle. “What?” 

“Oh, I just realized we have an Egyptian theme going on in Brooklyn. Like Carter is Horus, Zia is Ra, Walt is Anubis. I’m Bast. Fun fact: I was going to call myself ‘Isis’. You can see the flaws of that plan,” Sadie laughed. 

“Oh, that would have been bad,” Zia breathed in. “Considering the fact that it is also the name of a terrorist organization.”

“You say that like it didn’t take me three weeks to convince you to _not_ go by Isis,” Carter said. 

“I was eighteen, okay, I was a _rebel_ ,” Sadie defended. “Bye Walt! Bye Zia! See you soon!”

“See you!” Zia said cheerfully before rolling her eyes at Carter as the elevator doors closed.

“Glad that’s finally over,” Carter said.

“Okay, drama queen.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave kudos, or comment, it gives me instant serotonin and i _will_ love you forever


	3. iii.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sad situations and ultimatums

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda almost cried writing this, but then again i am emotional and very tired so

Sadie was woken up by an alarm on her phone. That type of alarm could have only meant one thing. Apophis. As drowsy as she was, she got up. She put her hair into a low ponytail. She was happy it was finally healthy, after years of bleaching it and straightening it she decided it was best to just cut it all off. It was finally back to a length she could handle.

She checked her phone for the time and the details of Apophis’s latest escapade. Sadie hated Apophis in that moment, not for wanting chaos, but for waking her up at four in the morning. She walked down the halls to Carter’s room and pounded on the door. 

“Carter! Get up! It’s Apophis!” Sadie finished her sentence with a yawn. She heard rustling from inside of the room. 

“I’m coming. Just give me a second,” Carter sounded groggy and Sadie couldn’t blame him. They were up for the majority of the night following dead leads, only to be woken up to another one. Carter stepped out of his room in his suit. “Where is it?”

“Abandoned warehouse,” Sadie trailed off. “Know what? I’ll just send you the location when you get flying.”

“Okay,” Carter yawned. “Sounds like a plan.” Carter walked over to the balcony at the end of the hallway. He followed the directions that Sadie gave him. It was an abandoned warehouse, but it didn’t seem like Apophis was there, or anyone for that matter. 

“Another dead end?” Sadie groaned. 

“Seems like it,” Carter said. He heard movement behind him and turned around quickly expecting a fight with Apophis or one of his minions. He was met with someone arguably just as bad in Carter’s opinion, Zia Rashid.

“Don’t shoot, here to help,” Zia said tiredly. “I checked the perimeter, no sign of anyone. Any luck inside?”

“No, but I still haven’t searched the closet,” Carter said and pointed at the closet at the other end of the room, too tired to instigate anything. 

“Alright, let’s hope there’s something at least,” Zia walked over to the closet. “Then, at least, this wouldn’t be a total waste of time.”

Carter followed her, conscious of any traps that could be present. There weren’t any traps, but on a stand in the middle of the closet, there was a flash drive with a note. 

“This can’t be good,” Carter muttered.

“Walt, we got a flash drive and a note, what do you want us to do with it?” Zia asked.

“Bring it to Sadie and Carter’s, I’m already here,” Walt replied over the comms. 

“Alright, Carter and I are on our way.” Zia grabbed the note and the flash drive from the table. “We’re heading back to the ‘Brooklyn Mansion’. Could you have picked a more pretentious name for that place?”

“Sadie and I named it when were kids okay? Lay off,” Carter defended himself. They made their way back to the Brooklyn Mansion as it had been named. 

“Where is that flash drive? I just chugged back two shots of espresso and an energy drink and I’m ready to go!” Sadie yelled as Carter and Zia entered the room. The pair walked up to her and Walt at Sadie’s desk and handed her the flash drive. “Okay, you guys can chill out or whatever, maybe take a nap or something.”

Zia and Carter walked over to the balcony and sat down at the table. Carter crossed his arms on the table and put his head down on them. “What do you think is on that flash drive?” Zia asked, looking at the sunrise on the horizon.

“Probably Apophis taunting us with the idea of chaos in Brooklyn,” Carter sighed, he looked up at the sky. “Like every other time he’s shown up.”

“This one feels different though, don’t you think,” Zia pondered. “It was out of the way, we had to look for it. If he’s taunting us, he usually says it outright.”

“You’re probably looking too much into it. You’re tired, believe me, I get it, but this doesn’t have to be different. Apophis is probably just trying to keep us on our toes,” Carter reasoned. 

“I’m thinking about it from a strategic point of view. This _is_ different from his usual taunts,” Zia shot back. 

“There’s nothing _strategic_ about Apophis, he’s chaos. We can’t pretend there’s a pattern so we can find something off about it,” Carter said. “That’s not how this works.”

“Oh, sorry I’m actually _trying_ to solve this case. Sorry I’m _trying_ to stop Apophis instead of just sitting around,” Zia remarked sarcastically. 

“I’m just waiting for sufficient evidence. Right now we can’t even form a hypothesis of what his plans are, and you’re just jumping to conclusions,” Carter said.

“Can you stop belittling me because I have different views than you? Oh, wait! I forgot, you can’t. That’s all you know how to do!” Zia said with an overenthusiastic, obviously fake smile on her face. 

“I just don’t understand why you don’t recognize that peoples lives have value,” Carter replied. He threw his hands up in confusion or frustration, he didn’t know which emotion was more present.

“I do recognize that, but if it was one person or the world? Of course, I’d take that persons life,” Zia conceded.

“And that’s where we differ. I’d try everything in my power to find another way, and you’d kill them.” Carter shrugged his shoulders. He took a sharp breath in, he really didn’t want to fight today, especially not about this.

“Well yeah, If it was the only option. Absolutely, I would,” Zia said. “Let me ask you this: If Sadie were in danger-.”

“I’m not dealing with ultimatums right now.” Carter looked away, avoiding the question.

“No, I’m genuinely curious. If Sadie were in danger would you kill someone to save her?” Zia tilted her head in anticipation of Carter’s answer.

“That’s completely unfair,” Carter countered.

“What’s unfair about it, exactly?” Zia asked. “The part where I made a genuinely good point and questioned your morals?” 

“I would do everything I can to diffuse the situation so that it wouldn’t end in violence, he finally answered.

“But what if the only way to save her was to kill someone else, would you do it? Would you kill another person to save Sadie’s life?” Zia rephrased her question. 

“If killing someone was the _only_ option?” Carter confirmed.

“Yes,” Zia said.

“I don’t know. Your answer would be obvious, but I don’t know if I would be able to bring myself to take someone’s life. Even if it meant I’d lose Sadie,” Carter told her, if she looked closely she might have been able to see the tears well up in his eyes. 

“Are you sure, or are you just saying that because you feel the need to stay loyal to your beliefs because it’s all you know?” Zia asked.

“You know, usually people are nicer to the person who saved their life,” Carter commented.

“I could say the exact same thing, _Horus_.” Zia rolled her eyes.

“And I didn’t even kill someone to save you! Wow, what a concept!” 

“I’ll have you know the _only_ reason that I have killed someone is because of you,” Zia let out a dry laugh. 

“What?” Carter whispered.

“How do you think you got that scar on your neck?” Carter reached up and put a hand on his neck at Zia’s words. “You were unconscious, Set had a knife to your throat. He was going to kill you, I had to act. It was Set or it was you.” 

Carter was about to respond when Walt showed up. “We found what was on the flash drive, and you might want to see this.”

Carter and Zia walked into see Sadie crying looking at the paused video. Carter took a hesitant step forward before speaking, “Walt, what’s going on?” 

“I think I should just press play on the video.” Walt grabbed the mouse in front of Sadie and started the video. 

“Ra, Horus, I’m glad you found this.” It was the mutilated and disembodied voice that Carter and Zia had come to hate even more than each other. “I have an important message for you both.”

The screen panned to an abandoned warehouse eerily like the one they were at that morning. “I suggest you pick up your slack, or people will be in danger.” In the corner of the screen, there was a pair of hands, handcuffed to the wall. Apophis’s altered voice cut out, replaced with screams and cries of anguish. Sadie jerked her head away, Carter looked at his sister sympathetically. 

“Blood will be spilled whether you stop me or not. I doubt you will, but still. The question is will it be yours, or will it be the blood of innocent people? I’ll let you decide that.” The video changed so that all of the hostages could be seen.

“Amos,” Zia breathed out. Carter and Sadie looked to her in confusion.

“How do you know Amos?” Sadie sniffled, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

“He taught me to control my powers, he’s the reason I haven’t, well, burnt up.” Zia’s eyes were still glued to the video. “How do you know him?”

“He’s our uncle,” Carter said simply, tears welling up in his eyes. 

“Apophis knows who we are. Who we really are.” Sadie wiped a tear from her eye.

“We can’t be sure of that, Amos helped a lot of people. Apophis also targeted a lot of people, It could just be an overlap,” Carter reasoned. This time Zia didn’t blame him, the panic and dread in his voice was enough to tip her off that he needed it to not be true. 

“No, I think he does.” Sadie rewound the video and pressed play. She paused it when at the last second. Carter took in a deep breath.

“No, please tell me that’s fake,” Carter pleaded. “Please, Sadie.”

“I guess we should tell Tawaret, huh?” Sadie confirmed his worst fears. Carter fell down into the nearest chair in despair.

“What’s wrong?” Zia asked, looking between the two siblings.

“It’s Bes. He’s a close family friend. Next to Amos he’s the closest we have to a father,” Sadie muttered. “Well, since dad passed anyway.”

“Apophis knows who we are,” Walt said with finality. “And he’s threatening people we care about. He knows it will be our downfall.” 

“We won’t let him win, we can’t,” Carter said. He tried hard to keep the uncertainty out of his voice. He tried hard to keep the tears from falling. He wasn’t successful. 

“No, we won’t.” Zia’s voice wasn’t sad. It was angry. She didn’t care what it took to bring Apophis down, she would. Even if it was the last thing she’d ever do.

“I think we should all get some rest,” Walt said softly, “we could all use it.”

“If you think I can sleep after this, then you're crazy.” Carter was shaking, from fear or anger or sadness, Walt didn’t know, but it was clear that they would have this conversation now. 

“Alright then, I’ll go brew a fresh pot of coffee.”

“I’ll help,” Sadie needed to something that didn’t have to do with Apophis, it was all she could do to keep herself from spiralling.

“I didn’t expect this when I woke up this morning,” Zia said, finally sitting down. The exhaustion of the events that had occurred hitting her all at once. 

“Yeah, no kidding.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls give kudos or comment, it fills me with such joy when you do


	4. iv.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sparring and sad situations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not me updating 😳😳😳🙈🙈🙈

“We need to be rational about this,” Carter explained.

“I’m trying to,” Zia said, getting a bit frustrated. “I _am_.”

“It was more to myself, but thank you for your input.” Carter rested his elbows on the table in front of him. He put his head in his hands. “How should we approach this?” 

“I don’t know,” Sadie admitted. “I just know that Apophis is willing to do a lot of things to bring us down.”

“We need to look at this with complete objectivity,” Walt said. “I know that this is very emotional for you guys, but we need to remove ourselves from the situation.”

“You’re right, and I know that, I just,” Carter let out a frustrated sigh. “I can’t imagine how scared they are.”

“Or if they're injured,” Zia added quietly. “He’s so _inhumane_.”

Carter let out a sharp nasal exhale, quite similar to that of a scoff. 

“Just say it, Carter,” Zia sighed. “Say you think I’m a horrible person that doesn’t care about people’s safety. You’re not doing a very good job at hiding it, so say what you mean and say it outright.”

“I can’t trust you, Zia,” Carter said. “You have blood on your hands.”

“What do you want from me, Carter?” Zia demanded. “An apology for saving your life? I’m sorry.”

“An apology doesn’t forgive a _murder_ ,” Carter yelled. 

“Well, I can’t very well go back in time and undo it!” Zia yelled back. “And if I could, I don’t think I would.”

“You _want_ someone’s death on your conscience?” Carter furrowed his brows in confusion. 

“I’d rather have Set dead than you dead!” 

“Well, that’s reassuring,” Carter scoffed.

“Do you know how often I have dreams where you died instead of him? Where he succeeded and you died right in front of me?” Zia crossed her arms over her chest. “Of course you don’t, because you’re just too caught up in the fact that I ‘have blood on my hands’ to think of anything else,” Zia scowled. She paused for a moment then continued to speak. “I still don’t regret saving you, and even though you hate me for it, I doubt I ever will.”

Zia walked away, she knew vaguely where the training room was. She needed to let off some steam. 

“Hey?” Sadie walked in behind her. “Are you okay?”

“The nerve! I save his life and how does he repay me? Oh yeah! That’s right, I remember! Ridiculing everything I do and labelling me as a horrible murderer!” Zia yelled, punching one of the training dummies. “I get it, I killed someone, but that doesn’t give him the right to belittle me. Set was going to do awful things if he gained power.”

“I’m not apologizing for him, and I can’t speak for him,” Sadie said. “But I can tell you, that he is very stubborn. He probably realizes that you did what was necessary, but he won’t admit it to himself because he has ‘a moral compass’.” Sadie put the last bit in air quotes. It got a ghost of a laugh out of Zia.

“It’s just so frustrating! It’s like he tries to rile me up on purpose!” Sadie laughed at Zia’s statement. “What?” Zia demanded.

“Carter said basically the same thing when this all started,” Sadie explained. “I think you two might be more similar than you think.”

“I don’t know if I take that as a compliment.”

  
  
  


“Carter,” Walt said. “You have to see where Zia is coming from.” 

“No, I really don’t.”

“Carter,” Walt said in a warning tone. “Cut the lies. Tell the truth. I won’t judge you, this won’t reach Zia. You don’t even have to tell me. Just make sure you admit it yourself.”

“I don’t know anything anymore,” Carter sighed. He hated feeling so confused. “Today, when I woke up, I didn’t know why Zia had killed Set. I hadn’t the foggiest clue the events leading up to it.” Carter leaned back in his chair. “And then she tells me that it was because of me. I was the reason that she did it.”

“You were unconscious, Carter. It’s not like you could have stopped it.” 

“I,” Carter paused, he was conflicted, and with Apophis kidnapping the two closest things he had to a father figure, he was quickly spiralling. “Zia did it because of me. I can’t help but feel responsible for it, like the blood’s on my hands too.” 

“You weren’t able to intervene, you weren’t able to move, let alone do anything to stop it.” Always Walt to be the voice of reason. “You shouldn’t project your own guilt onto other people, especially since you had no physical part in killing Set.”

“I know, it’s unfair to Zia for me to just blow up at her,” He put his head in his palms. “I just, I don’t know.”

“It’s okay to not know,” Walt sat down beside Carter. “It’s just not okay to hurt other people because you don’t know.”

Walt looked at Carter, a knowing look on his face. “Please don’t make me do that. I indulged a lot of things I don’t think I’m ready for that.” Walt continued to look at Carter, the look getting more intense. “She’d hold it over my head for so long.”

“Go apologize to Zia, Carter.” Walt crossed his arms against his chest. Carter sighed and got up, resigning himself to what he had to do. He left the library and headed towards the training room, it was the most likely place for Zia to be.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Zia asked in disdain, throwing a punch towards the training dummy. 

“Believe it or not, I’ve actually come to apologize,” Carter said and leaned against the wall.

“Well, I’m waiting.” Zia momentarily stopped her attack on the training dummy. She looked to Carter expectantly.

“As it pains me to say,” Carter started. Zia interjected with an agreeing scoff. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t right of me to blow up at you or blame you for killing Set when I hadn’t even had the full story.”

“And?” Zia prompted.

“And?” Carter asked. “I wasn’t aware there was more.”

“ _‘I’m sorry that I’ve ridiculed everything you’ve ever done and judged you because you don’t share my morals.’_ ” Zia did her best Carter impression. It was horrible but Carter felt like he wasn’t in the place to be arguing.

“I’m sorry that I’ve ridiculed everything you’ve ever done,” Carter let out a dry laugh. “And judged you.”

“Keep going,” Zia said. 

“Because you don’t share my morals.” Carter finished. “Is that all?”

“It’s good enough,” Zia said. “For now.”

“I think I also deserve an apology.” Carter walked towards one of the other training dummies. 

“Oh? You do?”

“Yeah, I think it should sound something like _‘I’m sorry I never told you why I killed Set and for leaving you to handle the criminals that have spat and or puked on you.’_.”

“They’ve puked on you?” Zia asked. Carter nodded, a disgusted look on his face. Zia tried to stop her laughter. “Okay, I’m sorry.”

“This is no laughing matter, Zia, it did not smell good.” 

“I’d believe that,” Zia said after her laughing fit. “Spar?”

“Sure, might help to get my mind off things,” Carter responded.

“Can’t argue with that.”

  
  


“Water break?” Zia asked. Carter looked at the clock, they had been sparring for two and a half hours. He could feel the sweat dripping down his back, his muscles begging for him to take a break. 

“You getting tired, Rashid?” Carter smirked, he was secretly hoping she would say yes. 

“That depends, are you?” Zia challenged.

“On three?” Carter compromised.

“One,” Zia said.

“Two,” Carter followed. 

“Yes,” they both said in sync. They both let out a little laugh as they went to sit on one of the benches. A few minutes had passed before Zia asked Carter a question.

“Do you really think we’ll be able to stop Apophis?” Her voice was small, delicate. It was odd to hear her so vulnerable, so quiet, so _afraid_.

“Well, I don’t think we have a choice,” Carter said solemnly. “Apophis has shown he won’t stop. He’s taken hostages, he’s figured out who we are,”

“I can’t imagine how hard it must be for you and Sadie right now,” Zia said. 

“We’ll make it through,” Carter reassured her. “I just hope Amos and Bes do too.”

Zia nearly broke down over Amos being held hostage and he was only her mentor. She knew Carter and Sadie would be having an exponentially harder time. She hoped they made it out safe. Neither of the Kane’s deserved to go through something like that.

“You’re footing was off a little bit, you might want to work on that,” Zia said trying to lighten the mood. 

“Duly noted, thanks for the suggestion.” Carter rolled his eyes playfully. 

“Glad you’re actually listening to me,” Zia shot back with a fond smile.

“Another round?” Carter asked, motioning to the rest of the training room. 

“Oh, you’re going down, Kane!”   
  


“In your dreams, Rashid!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you like it, ill be back in like seven years with an update


End file.
